Bahrain:
Visit Midland Texas, and check out the notable residents, past and present (sports figures).
Posted on 01/15/2008 4:05:34 PM PST by NormsRevenge
CAIRO, Egypt - It's been a chilly welcome for America's president: The Mideast, known for blazing sun and scorching winds, has been hit with an uncharacteristic wave of heavy rain, frigid gales — and even a smattering of snow.
If President Bush thought he would escape Washington's winter weather when he jetted to this region for eight days, he should have stayed home. It was nearly the same temperature in Washington, where it briefly snowed on Tuesday, as it was in Saudi Arabia — about 40 degrees.
The weather affected Bush's trip from the get-go. During his first stop in Israel, morning fog grounded his helicopter, forcing him to take a motorcade to the West Bank from Jerusalem. His plane touched down in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday amid heavy rains. In the Saudi Arabia capital of Riyadh on Monday and Tuesday, the president was greeted by overcast skies and temperatures hovering around freezing.
The unusually bleak weather has hit other parts of the region even if Bush hasn't. Iran witnessed the worst snow storms in a decade this month, leaving more than 20 people dead. In Lebanon, the Meteorology Department called its winter cold "the most severe in decades," with temperatures dipping below zero in some coastal areas. It even snowed in Baghdad last week for the first time in memory.
Pierre Eckert, of the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology in Switzerland, blamed an unusual high pressure zone over the lower parts of Scandinavia. It is sucking up the cold air from that region and blowing it to the Mideast.
Not everywhere on Bush's itinerary has been so dreary. He spent an evening enjoying a lavish picnic under the stars in the Emirates, and the sun is expected to greet him Wednesday when he sweeps into Egypt's Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheik.
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Those chilly temperatures probably had Bush especially grateful for one of his gifts from the Saudis: the full-length, fur-lined robe he wore to dinner at King Abdullah's ranch Tuesday night.
Bush arrived for the meal, held in an opulent building with a tent-like roof on the property in the desert outside Riyadh, wearing the black garment called a farw, with bluish-silver trim and lined with dark fur. Underneath, he had on a sweater vest over his open-collared dress shirt, for further protection against the cold. His staff had robes, too.
The president was escorted into the wood-paneled, marble-columned hall by the king's son and preceded by two men carrying silver incense holders that left a trail of pungent smoke. And the topic of conversation? Not Mideast peace, but the temperatures.
"It's really cold outside," said the king said, speaking through a translator. "Yes it is cold," replied Bush, with the robe laid beneath him.
Bush was spending the night at the farm, a weekend retreat for Abdullah, and having breakfast with the king before leaving Wednesday for Egypt.
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Speaking of that ranch, hundreds of acres of oasis in the desert, 260 Arabian and thoroughbred stallions are kept there in top form, with air-conditioned stables and even aqua therapy.
The president, sipping tea, got a look at a handful of Abdullah's favorites from a glass-enclosed viewing room. A trainer paraded sleek horses around a showing ring. One of them was Alysheba, winner of the 1987 Kentucky Derby and Preakness and now, at 24, a retired stud.
Bush posed with stable staff afterward.
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Earlier in the day, Bush came awfully close to performing a traditional sword dance with one of the princes of the royal family.
Bush was treated to an arrival ceremony at Riyadh's al-Murabba Palace and The National Museum that featured the dance. Before his tour, with drums beating and performers chanting, Bush held a sword over his shoulder and swayed arm-in-arm to the music with his host, Prince Salman, King Abdullah's brother.
Sheepishly grinning, Bush seemed to get into the dancing, in a presidentially reserved sort of way.
While at the facility, Bush stopped in a gallery describing the Prophet Muhammad's life. He paused to look at a 136-year-old handwritten Quran that was opened to a page filled with gold and turquoise decorative script.
TOO dangerous.
I have to say that it’s kind of nice to see ARABS SMILING!! They have NO JOY in their religion...not allowed...so it’s nice to see them having fun. The children always smile, but not the adults.
Bahrain:
Visit Midland Texas, and check out the notable residents, past and present (sports figures).
Abdullah to Bush and crew: Keep the robes
Interesting multi-striped tunic. Who does he think he is... Joseph?
Now Abdullah loved Bush more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many stripes.
Even the food has the Saudi flag at the top of the heap.
I don't know - it looks pretty warm here!.
Disgusting. Can you imagine Ronald Reagan kissing a freaking raghead? Or Fred Thompson? It’d never happen. Ever. But of course Bush’s relationship with Arab-Muslims is “special.”
This is impossible! Oh, thats right. According to Algore, Global Warming causes colder weather.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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Global warming!!!
Let’s see...snow in Baghdad, snow and sub-freezing temperatures in Saudi Arabia in the coldest winter they’ve seen in 20 years, rain in Abu Dhabi for the first time in months, and cold temperatures in Cairo! Hey al-Gore! Explain THIS!
Yup, and everytime we exhale CO2 we’re polluting.
“Filthy is as filthy does.”
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